THE EFFECTS OF CHARLEY’S DREAM TOWARD HIS DECISION MAKING IN LIFE IN MITCH ALBOM’S FOR ONE MORE DAY
THE EFFECTS OF CHARLEY’S DREAM TOWARD HIS
DECISION MAKING IN LIFE IN MITCH ALBOM’S FOR ONE
MORE DAY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
PRASTIKA WIGATINING PANGESTUTI
Student Number: 054214001
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2013
You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the
consequences of avoiding reality
(Ayn Rand)
When you look into your mother’s eyes, you know that is
the purest love you can find on this earth (Mitch Albom)If you believe in chance, if you believe in choice, fight for it (Taken from For One More Day’s movie)
This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to
My Beloved Parents, My Only Sister and My Lovely Fiancé
Thanks for your never ending loves and supports…
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First of all, I would like to extend my gratitude to Allah SWT because with the blessing I can finish this undergraduate thesis. Blessing and greetings be upon Muhammad SAW.
I would like to thank my advisor Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M. Hum for being so understanding and always giving me help and guidance during my undergraduate thesis writing. My gratitude also goes to Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M. Hum. for being my co-advisor, who has read and given me a lot of suggestions and corrections so my writing was well-improved. I will not finish this thesis without their helps.
My deepest gratitude is mostly addressed to my beloved parents, Joni Zularsono, SH and Sumarni, S.Pd for their everlasting prayer and support throughout my life. My deeply love also goes to my only sister, Rizka Dyah Lukitasari who has shared her spirit, jokes, and amusing moments with me.
My special thanks go to my fiancé, Khris for giving me his affection and care. I thank him for all of the lessons and companion during this undergraduate thesis writing. I thank to God for giving me such an amazing partner of life.
The following gratitude goes to all my friends; Sita Magfira, Ratna Hapsari, Vhrizca Ichul, Riris Tetty, and all the people in Pandega’s house. Thanks for your supports and helps which make me finish this undergraduate thesis.
Last but not least, I thank all the Lecturers of English Letters and USD staff, friends, relatives, and all people that I cannot mention one by one who have helped me in writing this undergraduate thesis.
Prastika Wigatining Pangestuti
TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE .......…………………………………………………………..…. i
APPROVAL PAGE ………................................................................................ ii
ACCEPTENCE PAGE………………………………………………………… iii
MOTTO PAGE ................................................................................................... iv
DEDICATION PAGE …………………………………………........................ v
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ……………………………… vi
PERNYATAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ……............. viiACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………..………….. viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………..…………….. xABSTRACT ..................................................................................................…... xii
ABSTRAK …………………………………………..…………….…………….. xiii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION …………………………….…………….… 1
A. Background of the Study ………………………………………………... 1 B. Problem Formulation ………………………………….………….……..4 C. Objectives of the Study ……………………………….………………… 4
D. Definition of Terms …………………………………….……………….. 5
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW …….…………………………… 7
A. Review of Related Studies …………………………………...………….. 7 B. Review of Related Theories ……………………………………...……… 101. Theory on Character and Characterization …………………..……… 10 2. Theories of Dream ………………………………………….……….
12 3. Theory on Decision Making ……………………….………………..
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4. The Relationship between Literature and Psychology …………..….. 18
C. Theoretical Framework ………………………………………….….…… 19
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY …………………………….……….……. 21
A. Object of the Study ………………………………….…………….…….. 21 B. Approach of the Study …………………………………….……….……. 22 C. Method of the Study ………………………………………….….………. 23CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ………………….……………………….………. 26
A. The Description of Charley Benneto ……………….…………….……... 271. Rude ……………………….…………………………….…….…….. 28
2. Indifferent ……………………………….…………………………... 29
3. Indecisive ………………………………………………….………… 30
4. Weak ………………………………………………………………… 33
5. Ambitious …………………………………………………………… 36
6. Smart ………………………………………………………………… 37
7. Tender ……………………………………………………………….. 38
B. The Revelation of Charley’s Dream ………………………………..…… 38 1. “MORNING” as Representations of the Starting Point in
Charley’s life …………………………………………………..……. 40 2. “NOON” as Representations of Charley’s Quest to Find Answer about His Life ………………….………………………..…………… 43 3. “NIGHT” as Representations of the Result of the Quest …….……… 44
C. The Effects of Charley’s Dream toward His Decision in Life ….………. 47
1. The Revelation of Charley’s Decisions ……………………………… 47
2. Charley’s Decision Making Process …………………….………..… 51
3. The Influences of Charley’s Dream toward His Life …………...…… 55
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ……………….………………………………. 58 BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………… 60 APPENDICES Appendix 1: Summary For One More Day ……………………………… 62 Appendix 2: Biography of Mitch Albom ………………………………… 64 Appendix 3: Timeline of Charley’s Important Moments ………………. 66
ABSTRACT
PRASTIKA WIGATINING PANGESTUTI. The Effects of Charley’s Dream
toward His Decision Making in Life in Mitch Albom’s For One More Day.
Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2013.In this undergraduate thesis, the writer analyzes a novel written by Mitch Albom entitled For One More Day. This novel was published by Hyperion in 2006. Charley Benneto, the main character of the novel, is a person who wants to end his life because of the problems he has. One day, he wants to commit suicide but failed. During his unconscious state because of a car accident, he meets his mother who has been died since nine years ago. He finds all the answers to his problems on that day and continues his life. The dream, which the main character has, inspires the writer to study the effects of that dream toward his decision making.
To analyze this novel, the writer formulates three problems for this topic. The problems that would be analyzed in this study are (1) how is the main character described in the story? (2) how is Charley’s dream revealed in the story? (3) how does Charley’s dream affect his decision in life?
This undergraduate thesis used the library research method and internet references. First, the writer conducted a close reading on the novel to get a deeper understanding. The second step was formulating the problems and finding supporting data. The writer used theories of character and characterization, theories on dream, and theory of decision making. Psychology approach was applied in this study. The third step was answering the problems. The last step was composing conclusions.
From the analysis, the writer got some results and findings. First, the writer found that the main character is smart, indecisive and indifferent. The result of the second analysis is that Charley finds the answers to his problem through his dream. Last, the writer found that Charley’s dream has important roles as a nostalgic memory and a savior to his decision making process.
ABSTRAK
PRASTIKA WIGATINING PANGESTUTI. The Effects of Charley’s Dream
toward His Decision Making in Life in Mitch Albom’s For One More Day.
Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2013.Dalam thesis ini, penulis menganalisis sebuah novel yang ditulis oleh Mitch Albom yang berjudul For One More Day. Novel ini diterbitkan oleh Hyperion pada tahun 2006. Charley Benneto, tokoh utama dalam novel, adalah seseorang yang ingin mengakhiri hidupnya karena permasalahan-permasalahan yang harus dihadapi. Suatu hari, dia ingin mengakhiri hidupnya tetapi gagal. Dalam keadaan tidak sadar karena kecelakaan mobil, dia bertemu dengan ibunya yang telah meninggal sejak 9 tahun yang lalu. Dia menemukan semua jawaban dari permasalahannya dan melanjutkan hidup. Mimpi tokoh utama menginspirasi penulis untuk meneliti pengaruh-pengaruh mimpi tersebut terhadap pembuatan keputusan tokoh utama.
Untuk menganalisis novel ini, penulis merumuskan tiga rumusan masalah. Rumusan masalah yang akan dianalisis dalam penelitian ini adalah (1) bagaimana tokoh utama dideskripsikan dalam novel tersebut? (2) bagaimana mimpi Charley diungkapkan dalam novel tersebut? dan (3) bagaimana mimpi Charley mempengaruhi keputusannya dalam hidup?
Thesis ini menggunakan studi kepustakaan dan referensi internet. Langkah pertama yang dilakukan penulis adalah membaca novel tersebut dengan seksama untuk memperoleh pemahaman mendalam. Langkah kedua adalah merumuskan rumusan masalah dan menemukan data-data yang mendukung. Penulis menggunakan teori-teori karakter, teori-teori tentang mimpi dan teori tentang pengambilan keputusan. Pendekatan psikologi digunakan dalam penelitian ini. Langkah ketiga adalah menjawab rumusan-rumusan masalah. Langkah terakhir adalah menyusun kesimpulan.
Dari hasil analisis, penulis menemukan beberapa temuan. Pertama, penulis menemukan bahwa tokoh utama tersebut cerdas, ragu-ragu dan acuh tak acuh. Hasil analisis kedua adalah bahwa Charley menemukan jawaban dari permasalahan-permasalahannya dan memutuskan untuk melanjutkan hidup. Terakhir, penulis menemukan bahwa mimpi Charley mempunyai peranan yang penting sebagai sebuah kenangan nostalgia dan penyelamat dalam proses pengambilan keputusannya.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study Human beings have dreams when they are sleeping. A person’s dream may
be different or similar to others’. The dreams may contain happiness, sadness, and good things even bad things. The contents of dream can shift suddenly, from happiness into sadness or good things into bad things or the opposite. The contents of dream represent an idea, concept or emotion that is difficult to put into words. The symbols are one reason why dreams appear mysteriously and even nonsensical to the waking mind. Dream is influenced by any unconscious impulse that appears during the day.
The fact that often occurs is that human beings have to face problems of life, such as economic problems, social problems, family problems, and personality problems. These kinds of problem, sometimes, can affect the content of dreams that human beings have. The content of dreams can be so rich and compelling that makes people believe that there must be some meaning in that. Sigmund Freud in his book The Interpretation of Dreams stated:
There is a psychological technique which makes it possible to interpret dreams and that on the application of this technique every dream will reveal itself as a psychological structure, full of significance, and one which may be assigned to a specific place in the physic activities of the waking state (1913: 3).
2 Since dream is full of significance, it means that the content of dream will give influences to the dreamer. Human beings considerably have different thoughts and ways of living because there are differences in the condition of living. They may have different ways to respond to their condition of living. The difference ways of thinking make human beings have different interpretation on their own dream. How they interpret their dreams can appear in their manner and lead them into actual world.
What human beings get from their dream’s interpretation, sometimes, gives direct or indirect influence to their life. Commonly, human beings will remember the content of their dreams and then they will try to find the meaning. The content of dreams can also help human beings to make decisions. The decision-making will appear after the dreamer succeeded to interpret his or her dream.
Everyone comes from a particular background of life. As an individual, a person deserves to reach his or her own goal in life. When she or he acquires to carry out choices and believe that she or he is able to make choices, he or she is free to choose the way to go. Sarah Cirese in Quest: A Search for Self shows that every person is free in making decision, having commitments, taking risks within the bound of his or her own value system (1984: 62). Making choices is the potential factor of every person.
Every day, people are inundated with decisions, big or small. People are making decision about many things. They make political decisions; personal decisions including medical choices, romantic decisions and career decisions; and
3 financial decisions, which may also include some of other kinds of decisions and judgments.
According to the true story of Charley Benneton, a former baseball player, who lived in Pepperville Beach Village, the author, Mitch Albom is interested to make it into a novel. Charley was forced by his father to choose who he wanted to be: mama’s boy or daddy’s boy. He later grows up as a man that is so full with rejections that has turned him to alcohol. He reached the lowest point when he discovered that his own daughter has shut him out of her wedding. He decided to commit suicide. He took a midnight ride to his small hometown, intended to end his life where he began it. Unfortunately, he had a car accident before he reached his hometown. Charley’s hardship allowed the spirit of his mother came into his dream when he was dying. Jung in his book Contribution to Analytical
Psychology stated:
One of the essential determinants of a belief in spirits is the dream. The appearance of the dead and a dream is a particularly strong argument for the primitive belief in spirits. As such troubles arise out of psychological conflicts, mostly of an unconscious order; they appear to the naive mentally as though caused by certain persons. Living or dead, who are in some way connected with the individual’s conflict (1931: 253).
The meeting between Charley and his dead mother that finally avoids Charley from committing suicide makes the writer interested to analyze it because the writer wants to know the causes deeper. The title has also intrigued the writer to analyze the novel. James McBride, author of The Color of Water wrote in the back of Albom’s book : “if you had the chance, just one chance, to go back and
4 fix what you did wrong in life, would you take it?........”. This sentence is also attracted the writer to go deeper to analyze this novel.
In order to identify the ideas revealed in the literary work from the important element within, the role of the characters is usually very significant in revealing the idea inside. The writer tries to understand the main character’s descriptions to reveal what the author wants to share. The writer chooses the character of Charley because his characterizations are very appropriate to reveal the relation between Charley and his mother, his father and his dream itself. This study is made to point out the dream that can influence the decision-making through the main character in the story that Albom wants to reveal in his work.
B. Problem Formulation
Referring to the background of the study, there are three questions formulated as follows.
1. How is the main character described in the story?
2. How is Charley’s dream revealed in the story?
3. How does Charley’s dream affect his decision in life? C.
Objectives of the Study
The study on this thesis aims to give answers to the questions that have been formulated in the problem formulation. The objective of the study based on the problem formulation is to find out more about the effects of dream in Charley’s decision making. Therefore, there will be three objectives of the study. Firstly,
5 this study is trying to figure out the description of Charley in the novel. This question will lead us to know the relationship between Charley and his mother, Charley and his father and Charley and his dreams. Secondly, the writer wants to reveal Charley’s dream. The content of Charley’s dream shows that the dream is necessary in the story. Lastly, the writer is trying to identify the relation between dream and life’s decision making. The study using the information from the previous question which is very beneficial to reach the actual goal of thesis by identifying the effects of dream in Charley’s decision making in life.
D. Definition of Terms
In this part, some words will be defined to guide the readers in understanding this thesis. The writer will clarify the meaning of some significant terms that are used in this study to avoid misconception on reading this thesis. The writer gets definition of the specific terms mostly from library works, which are considered well qualified.
1. Dreams Henry Gleitman in his book entitled Psychology described dream as a kind of nocturnal drama to which the only price of admission is falling asleep. It is usually a series of scenes, sometimes fairly commonplace, sometimes bizarre and disjointed, in which the dreamer often figures as a participant (1991: 6).
2. Decision Making According to Simon (1977: 12), decision making is a process of choosing among alternative courses of action for the purpose of attaining a goal or goals.
6 Managerial decision making is synonymous with the whole process of management. To illustrate the idea, consider the important managerial function of planning. Planning involves a series decisions: What should be done? When? How? Where? Whom? Hence planning implies decision making. Another function in the management process, such as organizing and controlling, also involves making decisions. In this study the “decision making” refers to the process of deciding options or choices from analyzing a problem until it comes to a decision.
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW This chapter contains some theories used in this study. This part is divided
into Review of Related Studies, Review of Related Theories and Theoretical Framework. The Theoretical Review covers theory in character and characterization, theories of dream, and theory on decision making. Meanwhile, the theoretical framework explains the contribution of each theory toward the analysis to solve the problems formulated in this study.
A. Review of Related Studies
This part consists of the related studies that deal with both the work, For
One More Day, and the author, Mitch Albom. The writer uses related studies to
get more information about other opinions. These comments, ideas and reviews are called as literary criticism. Through literary criticism, we are able to understand both the author and the work. In this study, criticism is needed to support the idea or topic discussed here. Theories related to this study will be discussed furthermore in this chapter.
Related to the work, there is a study done by Rina Liem, student of The English Department of Bina Nusantara University Jakarta in 2009. Her thesis, entitled The Journey of Finding Life Meaning in Mitch Albom’s For One More
Day: A Structuralism Analysis Focusing on Main Character, examines the main
character’s journey in finding the life meaning. A turning point event that
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involves the important person to help them to build their lives back together and get the meaning of their existence in this life is necessary. She uses the cause and effect analysis to explain why something happened and the result it caused to show the process of the main character, Charley Benneton, finding his meaning of life. She concludes that love was the reason this story begun (2009: 2).
This thesis shows that Albom’s For One More Day presents the opportunity in getting better life that was influenced by the interpretation of the main character’s dream. The power of changing life lies on the mother’s eternal love.
Michael S. Franklin, a student of the Department of Psychology of University of Michigan, and Michael J. Zyphur, a student of the Department of Psychology of Tulane University, wrote an article which entitled The Role of
Dream in the Evolution of Human Mind in the book Evolutionary Psychology
which presents an evolutionary argument for the role of dreams in the development of human cognitive process. They conclude that The experiences that we accrue from dreaming across our life span are sure to influence how we interact with the world and are bound to influence our overall fitness, not only as individuals, but species. These experiments demonstrate that the decisions we make are often based on information that we cannot consciously access (2005: 73). According to B. Anne Frey in his disseration entitled Discerning Life
with Dreams: The Triadic Relationship between Dreams, Discernment, and
Spiritual Intelegence , there is a relationship between dreams and spiritual
intelligence. Her study focuses on the experiences of people who use dreams to
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make vital decision in a spiritual context or use dreams in discernment or decision making (2007: 6).
Charli Welly Robert S. Meliala, a student of the English Letters Department of Sanata Dharma University in his undergraduate thesis entitled
Adolescent Risk Taking as Seen in James Joyce’s Eveline shared an Evelin’s risk
taking in her decision making process in order to gain for better life (2011: 4).There is also study done by Andreas Priyo Setiawan, a student of the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. His thesis entitled The Second Change in Life Granted to Charley Benneto as Seen in
Mitch Albom’s For One More Day shared the writer’s own experience that might
be the same to Charley Benneto in the novel. The writer of this undergraduate thesis believes that every people have their second chance (2001: 3).
As Rina Liem and Andreas Priyo Setiawan showed that every person has meaningful life, the writer is impressed on the way Charley Benneto changes his mind not to commit suicide because of his dreams about his dead mother. Furthermore, the writer assumes that every person has his or her own characteristics that uniquely presence within oneself. These characteristics may affect on the way a person actualize his or herself. The writer positions in this undergraduate thesis as the progress of Rina Liem’s and Andreas Priyo Setiawan’s opinions. This undergraduate thesis will explore more about Charley’s efforts to make his life meaningful.
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B.
Review of Related Theories This part consists of theories that are going to be used in the analysis.
Those are theory on character and characterization, theory on dream, and theory on decision making. Besides, there is one additional theory on the relation between psychology and literature. This theory functions to explicate the interrelation between psychology and literature.
1. Theory on Character and Characterization
This undergraduate thesis will analyze the characterizations of the main character, Charley Benneto. Theory on character becomes the starting point of the analysis on the characterization of the main character. Abrams in his book entitled
A Glossary of Literary Terms states that
Character are the person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the readers as being endowed with moral, dispotional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say—the dialogue—and what they do—in the action. The grounds in the characters’ temperament, desires, and moral nature for their speech and actions are called their motivation (1981: 23).
Murphy in Understanding Unseens illustrates some ways that author attempts to make his character understandable and come alive for readers: a. Personal Description
To describe the character, the author explains physical appearances of the character. The description is often related to his psychological condition. The personality itself can be reflected from the external appearance.
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b. Character as Seen by Another Instead of describing a character directly, the author can describe the character through the eyes and opinions of another.
c. Speech The author can give us an insight into the thought of a certain character through what he or she says. Whenever a person speaks, whenever he is in conversation with another, he is giving us some clue to his character.
d. Past Life By letting the reader learn something about a person’s past life, the author can give us a clue to events that has helped to shape a person’s character.
The character’s past life is always closely connected to his or her present life.
e. Conversation of Others The author can also give us clues to a person’s character through the conversations of other people and the things they say about him.
f. Reaction The author can also give us a clue to a person’s character by letting us know how that person reacts to various situations and events.
g. Direct Comment The author can describe or comment on a person’s character directly.
h. Thought The readers follow the inner life of the character’s mind and then make the association of his ideas. In brief, readers are facilitated to disclose the thought inside the character’s mind.
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i. Mannerism The author can describe a person’s mannerism, habits or idiosyncrasies which may also tell us something about his character (1972: 161-173).
Furthermore, Roberts and Jacobs state that round characters are usually the major character and central figures. An author develops them fully with many traits. Round characters are many-sided and possess many unpredictable human traits. They are considered as dynamic for having capacity to change and grow. At the beginning of a story, the major character may have different quality compared to the end of the story (1987: 121).
The opposite of round characters is flat characters. Flat characters do not change within the story. Flat characters are usually minor characters. They are static and usually face the same challenges. To reveal whether they are round or flat, readers must use their own knowledge and experience with human beings to make finding about character’s quality (1987: 121-122).
2. Theories of Dream
Theories of dream are applied in presenting the revelation on the characterization of the main character, Charley. Two people known as great dream analysts are Freud and Jung.
Sigmund Freud in his book The Interpretation of Dream wrote that Aristotle in his book Concerning Dreams and their Interpretation asserted that “the dream is of demonical, thought not of divine nature, which indeed contains
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deep meaning, if it be correctly interpreted.” Aristotle also acquainted with some dream’s characteristics. One of them is that dream turns slight sensations perceived during sleep into great ones (1913: 2).
Freud said that the dream is a wish-fulfillment. It is not meaningless not absurd. “It is a physic phenomenon of full value, and indeed the fulfillment of wish.” The character of wish-fulfillment in dreams is often undisguised and recognizable, so that one may wonder why the language of dreams has not been understood (1913: 103-104).
Based on Freud, dream is formed from the unconscious state but try to work in the conscious state. Freud believed that dreams are wish fulfillments. The latent content or the unconscious material usually goes back to the childhood experience. The manifest content or the conscious description often based from the past experiences (Feist, 2002: 51).
For Freud, the dream reveals what the dreamer would rather keep hidden. By exploring the dream, someone is forced to face things that are suppressed and rejected within oneself. On the other hand, Jung thought the dream acts as a mirror off the ego. It reveals what is missing within the dreamer’s consciousness. Jung considered a dream to be a compensation of neglected aspect of a dreamer’s personality in waking life. In Theories of Personality, Jung stated that “the natural condition of human is to move toward completion or self-realization. Thus, if person’s conscious live is incomplete in certain area, the person’s unconscious self will strive to complete that condition through the dream process” (Feist, 2002: 119).
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Jung (1964) believed that people used symbols to represent a variety of concepts – not merely sexual ones – to try to comprehend the “innumerable things beyond the range of human understanding”. Dreams are our conscious and spontaneous attempt to know the unknowable, to comprehend a reality that can only expressed symbolically (Feist, 2002: 125).
The purpose of Jungian dream interpretation is “to uncover elements from the personal and collective unconscious and to integrate them into consciousness in order to facilitate the process of individuation” (Feist, 2002: 228). Jung believed that to understand a dream the analyst has to unravel the relationship with the dreamer and his life, then discovering the significance of the various images the dream present. Each image or symbol must be taken in turn till its meaning for the dreamer is established as nearly as possible. Each dream is taken as a direct expression of the dreamer’s unconscious and only to be understood in this light (Fordham, 1956: 97).
Freud’s Delusion and Dream realizes that the impression made by the dream on our conscious judgment seems to support the idea that its peculiarities are only due to a psychological deficiency in the state of sleep. We should consider a mad man who in waking life, behaved as he often appeared to do in his dreams. He, who in waking life, spoke or communicated such things as he appears to do in his dreams (1956: 20).
According to Jolande Jacobi in his essay Symbols in an Individual Analysis.
“If a young person is afraid of life and finds it hard to adjust to reality, he might prefer to dwell in his fantasies or to remain a child. In such a young person (especially if he is introvert) one can sometimes discover unexpected treasures in the unconsciousness strengthen his ego and give him the physic energy he needs to grow into a mature person. That is the
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function of the powerful symbolism of our dreams.” Dream can be interpreted on an objective level or on a subjective level.
On objective level the dream is related to the dreamer’s environment, while on subjective level the dream-figures are taken as representing aspects of the dreamer’s personality. Fordham states, “The subjective aspect of dreams becomes more important in the subjective level of analysis when the personal problems have been seen and understood” (1956: 99).
3. Theory on Decision Making
In order to analyze the problem of choices, the decision making process and the influence towards decision making process, the writer employs some theories from the field of psychology such as theory of dilemma, heuristic in judgment and decision making methodology. These theories explain the characteristics of problem of choices—what changes them into dilemma, the factors that influence someone in deciding things and how someone can influence other’s decision.
a. Dilemma Behn and Vaupel state that there are three major complications that can turn a decision into a dilemma. The first is when people may not know the precise consequences of their alternatives. The future is not predictable, and that may influence the outcome of their decision. The second major factor is a clash between consequences. The third reason why a decision may be a dilemma is
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complexity. Some problems are so complicated that they are hard to examine and define precisely; there are too many alternatives, too many uncertainties, and too many possible consequences (1982: 15).
b. Decision Making Process 1) Heuristic in Judgment
Atkinson says that decision relies on heuristics. Heuristics are thing that are discovered and learnt from own experiences. Past experiences often play a greater role than relevant information when a choice must be made. Heuristics allow us to decide quickly on the value of a certain action or the probability of certain consequences, without deliberating over a heuristic appropriateness to a particular situation.
There are two major heuristics. The first is the heuristics of representativeness. People base their predictions on close similarity between the predicted event and typical example. The second is heuristic of availability. People base predictions on comparison of the current situation with similar situations in the past, and their judgment depends upon the range of past example they recall. When similar situations have been experienced frequently, it is likely that the future events will be similar to them and the correct and suitable situations will be easy to recall. People regard easily recalled information as typical one and then predict the typical conclusion spontaneously (Atkinson 1983: 239).
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2) Decision Making Methodology Decision-making process involves sequential steps. Hansen (1977: 420) proposes the steps of making good decision. They are defining problem, generating alternatives, gathering information, processing information, making plans and selecting goals, and implementing and evaluating plans. First is defining the problem. This step focuses on the problem itself. It tries to answer the question on what the problem is and why the problem becomes. Second is generating alternatives.
Third is gathering information. One gathers information that helps him to consider the alternatives. Information may not guarantee a good decision but without it, the chances of a good decision can decrease. Herr and Cramer (Hansen, 1977: 422) are grouping information in four categories. They are inner-limiting factors such as ability, skills; inner-directing factors such as values, interest; outer-limiting factors such as accessibility and scope of educational and occupational opportunities; and outer-directing factors such as social class expectancies or familial aspiration. During this phase, one’s abilities, values, educational and occupational opportunities and public expectations are examined so that the solution will be in harmony with one’s goals.
Fourth is processing information. At this stage based on factual information such as amount of time and money involved, the information is processed. One can then predict the probabilities of success in his decision (Hansen, 1977: 423).
Fifth is making plans and selecting goals. After careful examination on
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values and alternatives, one makes his final decision to be applied. It might be possible to provide some practical experience in this step (Hansen, 1977: 423).
Sixth is implementing and evaluating plans. The decision that has been made need to be implemented to find out the result and one must prepare himself towards any consequences from the decision. The decision may be tested at this stage, and then further information can be gained and use as a feed back to next decision making process. Evaluation should become part of the decision making process (Hansen, 1977: 424).
4. The Relation between Psychology and Literature
Recognizing that there is a close relation between literature and psychology, Kalish in The Psychology of Human Behaviour implies that “literature holds the mirror up to the man”. A good author or novelist can communicate the feeling of their characters and make them seem more life-like that the real people whose behavior the psychologist attempts to describe. The author can use the understanding provided by the psychologist to enrich stories, and psychologist can gain in their understanding of human behavior by drawing from the deep sensitivity of good author (1973: 8).
Psychology is one way to improve and develop characterization in the works of literature. In the other way, through literature, people can learn about psychological values or conditions of human even better than through psychology itself (Wellek and Warren, 1962: 91-93).
As the relationship between literature and psychology is closely
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established, it can be said that the analysis of literary works may reflect certain psychological factors. This undergraduate thesis explores two of the psychological subjects. Those are the dream and decision making.
C. Theoretical Framework There are four theories which are applied in this undergraduate thesis.
They are theory of character and characterization, theories of dream, theory on decision making and the theory of the relationship between literature and psychology.
The first theory is the theory of character and characterization, which are the basic theory which is used to show the character of Charley. Charley is the main character of the story that is going to be analyzed.
The theories of dream were used to reveal Charley’s dream in the story. These theories will be helped by the third theory to reveal the relation between dream and decision making.
The third theory is the theory on decision making which was used to share how the decision making process is. This theory was used to complete the second theories to show the relation between dream and decision making.
The last theory is the theory of the relationship between literature and psychology. It is used to support the theories of dream and theory on decision making since this thesis is a literary study.
By using these theories, the writer is able to identify how the main character described in the story, how the main character’s dream and his life’s
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decision making revealed in the story, and how the main character’s dream affect his life’s decision making.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study In this undergraduate thesis, the writer uses the novel by Mitch Albom
entitled For One More Day as the object of this study. It is published by Hyperion in 2006. Mitch Albom mesmerized the reader around the world with his number one New York Times bestsellers, The Five People You Meet in Heaven and
Tuesday with Morrie. For One More Day debuted at No. 1 on the New York
Times Bestseller List and spent nine months on the list. In October 2006, For One
More Day was the first book chosen by the Starbucks in the newly launched Book Break Program.